Valley Brook Golf Course — Attraction in Harrington Park

Had a 4:10 tee time and when we showed up at 3:45 we were told there was an hour lightning delay and there were 9 groups ahead of us on one of the sunniest days of the summer. There were also about 8 people by the 1st tee box so there was no way that many groups were waiting. No phone call to let us know there was a delay either. Then the guy in the club house would not let us pay and wait at the first tee box saying that if another storm came through (on a perfectly sunny day) that he did not want to have to do the work to issue us a refund. Finally, the guy decided to let us out at 450 and charges us full price as opposed to the twilight fee we could have paid in 10 extra minutes. To top this nightmare off the ranger tells us to have the carts in by 7pm. We finished the 9th hole and got to 10 by 6:40pm (probably could have gotten 2 extra holes in) and the ranger came back demanding the golf carts be returned saying the county rule was 7pm. Which is a lie because rockleigh had wanted the carts in at 730 the day before. After questioning this county rule and saying it’s only 6:40 the ranger immediately threatened to call the police on me! What an actual joke!! This place needs a real manager to watch over these angry retired old timers thinking they can do whatever they want to avoid a...

I played this course for the first time recently and I left with mixed feelings. Check in was smooth and easy in the clubhouse, where I decided to buy a bucket of balls to warm up on the range. That’s where things got weird. I was told that I had to leave my county card as collateral and it would be returned to me only after I returned the bucket. (Never had that happen but whatever) I was pleasantly surprised to find that I would get to hit off of natural grass instead of a matt on the range. (Awesome) After warming up, returning the bucket to get my card back, I proceeded to play the front 9 from the tips. The course plays very short and very tight with little margin for error off the tee. Once I began the back 9 things got interesting. I encountered some of the worst conditions I’ve ever seen before. The green on hole 12 had several barren dead spots and had goose droppings everywhere. So bad that I had to clear a path for my putt by lifting up poop with my putter. Gross… I then proceeded to hole 13, which was like a barren wasteland. The excessive water damage has left almost no grass in the fairway. If I were to return I would probably only play the front 9 because it was...

The front nine is a fantastic design with a great variety of holes that presents a unique yet fair challenge to the golfer.

The back nine tho specifically holes 12&13 are just an absolute disgrace to the game of golf and the residents of the county.

To Ian the director of county golf you’re allowed to fill in the holes on hole 13 that routinely flood. You can justify the repair work as fixing divots caused by the golfer in order to get around the NJ DEPs mandate that you can’t raise the elevation of the fairway.

Do what’s right for the residents of the county and fix the dam hole. The quick cheap fix for hole 13 is to mark the entire left side between the woods and the fairway a red stake hazard. This would speed up pace of play and makes too much sense considering that area is...